Undergraduate BA(hons) Music Business
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Course overview
ACM’s Music Business degree develops ambitious industry professionals with the commercial insight, creative understanding and entrepreneurial skills to champion talent and build successful music businesses. Connecting industry knowledge with practical experience, the course prepares you to work at the forefront of an industry shaped by artists, audiences and new ideas.
Explore artist management, music marketing, record label and publishing operations, live music, events and entrepreneurship. Understand how these areas connect, how music reaches audiences and how creative work generates income. You’ll develop the judgement to recognise opportunities, build effective strategies and make informed business decisions in a changing digital landscape.
At ACM, you’ll develop your business skills within a community of musicians, songwriters, producers and creative practitioners. Through collaborative work and live projects, you’ll explore how to develop talent, communicate an artist’s identity and connect music with its audience. These experiences help you understand both the creative ambitions and commercial priorities behind a successful project.
Develop the professional confidence to pitch ideas, manage projects and build productive industry relationships. Whether you want to support an emerging artist, launch a music venture or deliver a live event, you’ll learn to turn ideas into workable plans and communicate their value.
With access to industry professionals, masterclasses and networking opportunities, you’ll build your understanding of contemporary music business practice and the contribution you want to make. Graduate prepared to pursue careers across artist management, marketing, labels, publishing and live music – or create your own business and help shape the industry’s future.
Modules
Modules
ACM’s core validated learning provision. These are the building blocks of your degree, through which you will be assessed, accrue credits, and progress towards your final qualification. ACM’s module design blends the rigour of a high-quality academic framework and up-to-date industry knowledge. Students also develop critical professional competencies as they progress through their programme.
Skills Units
Skills units are ACM’s unique delivery model for up-to-date technical and industry knowledge. These are where you will learn everything you need to excel in your chosen discipline, and inform how you approach your assessments.
Modules
CIF-405 Preparing for Collaborative Work
Learn to contribute confidently to a collaborative creative brief. Working with students across music disciplines, you'll research audiences, define project objectives, develop a viable plan and explore how marketing, budgeting and coordination help creative ideas reach their intended audience.
CIF-406 Engaging in Collaborative Projects
Put your developing music business skills into practice on a shared brief with students from other disciplines. You'll help shape the project's audience, promotion, delivery and evaluation, communicating with collaborators and responding to the commercial and organisational challenges of creative work.
MIF-407 Music Industry Futures
Studying alongside students from every music pathway, you'll explore the people, organisations and processes that shape today's music business, from recording and publishing to live events and emerging technologies. You'll gain an understanding of how creatives collaborate with industry professionals, whilst developing a broad awareness of the opportunities, challenges and career paths that define the modern music industry.
MIF-411 Specialist Creative Practice 1
Develop the practical foundations of music business through hands-on Skills Labs. Explore how labels, publishers, managers, promoters and independent artists operate, while building skills in audience research, branding, communication and the commercial planning that supports creative careers.
MIF-412 Specialist Creative Practice 2
Build on Specialist Creative Practice 1 by applying music business principles to real-world scenarios. Develop artist and brand positioning, digital marketing plans, content strategies, basic budgets and release timelines, while examining rights, income streams and the changing relationship between creators and audiences.
MIF-413 Music Culture & Communities
Music shapes cultures, communities and influences the world around us. In this module, you'll study alongside other pathways across music and explore how the music industry connects with society, identity and creative communities. Through discussion, research and shared perspectives, you'll gain a broader understanding of the cultural impact of music whilst developing valuable research skills that will inform your own practice as a music business creative and help you create work that connects with music industry professionals and audiences.
Modules
CIF-501 Specialist Collaborative Work
Apply your music business expertise to ambitious cross-disciplinary projects. Work alongside performers, producers and other creatives to develop coherent release, event or artist-development plans, considering target audiences, resource requirements, partnerships and measures of success.
CIF-502 Professional Collaboration Work
Help deliver a substantial collaborative project in a professional context. Contribute music business leadership through scheduling, stakeholder communication, budgeting, rights management and marketing, adapting your plan to creative, operational and commercial demands.
CIF-503 Specialist Route Skills
Deepen your knowledge of the commercial music ecosystem through specialist Skills Labs. Develop practical skills in contracts and negotiation, copyright and licensing, royalty flows, budgeting, market research and campaign planning. Use these tools to assess opportunities and make informed decisions for artists and creative businesses.
CIF-504 Professional Route Skills
Advance from core business principles to the management of complex music projects. Through specialist Skills Labs, explore artist strategy, touring and live-event economics, partnerships, data-led marketing, commercial negotiations and sustainable business models. Produce a professional plan supported by research and realistic financial assumptions.
Modules
CIF-601 Critical Review Preparation
Prepare for independent research by investigating current questions in the music industries. Develop the skills to assess academic and industry evidence, formulate a research question, examine ethical considerations and critically evaluate changing business models, technologies and audience behaviours.
CIF-602 Leading Professional Collaborative Project
Lead the business development and delivery of an ambitious collaborative music project. Coordinate creative and commercial priorities, manage resources and stakeholders, and shape a route to market. Evaluate both the creative outcome and the project's audience reach, financial viability and professional impact.
CIF-603 Leadership & CPD
Prepare for leadership roles in music and the creative industries. Strengthen your professional judgement through advanced Skills Labs in strategic planning, entrepreneurship, financial decision-making, people and project management, and continuing professional development. Reflect on how you can build an adaptable, responsible career.
CIF-604 Independent Portfolio
Develop a professional portfolio that demonstrates your commercial expertise and individual interests. Curate project plans, campaign examples, research, budgets and reflective case studies to evidence your contribution and communicate your readiness for work in music business.
CIF – 701 – Professional Practice Frameworks
This module enables students to demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of the professional sector-specific expertise required for a creative industries profession. Students here reflect on their own specialist and professional experiences and map to professional standard frameworks. There is the opportunity to engage with additional external qualifications through this module.
CIF – 702 – Applied research
This module enables students to evidence academic expertise in an applied research
context. Students will be able to use relevant academic research to drive their project, over two terms, where they will submit a final portfolio of work. Some examples include: professional portfolios, thesis, creative portfolios, live performances, creative artefacts and products.
CIF – 703 – Ideas into action
Within this module, students will investigate the project management processes needed to develop a project from concept to release, developing their own craft into project(s) which align with their chosen area of study.
CIF – 704 – Making connections
This module enables students to identify, inform, and establish a network of peers and relevant industry and community contacts to develop opportunities and advocacy in key organisations in the local community, research organisations, charities and the creative industries, as well as connect with communities of investors.
Fees & Entry requirements
- Minimum age 17+ for Foundation Learners and 18+ for our Accelerated Degree Courses.
- You will be expected to hold A Levels or Equivalent Level 3 Qualification(s) worth 104 UCAS Points or more **
- You will be expected to hold a GCSE in English Language / Literature at C grade/ 4 (or higher)
- Suitability for the programme will also be assessed through an audition. View audition guides
- Fees & financing information can be found on our Fees page
- Term dates can be found on the Term Dates page
If you do not have A-Levels and require moderation, please speak to our admissions team to explore the options available to you.
UCAS code: A48
UCAS points: 104 UCAS Points
Awarding body: Middlesex University
This course is presented in conjunction with our partners Middlesex university and is subject to the regulations and policies detailed here.
Progression
Contact our Admissions team to discuss the possibility of switching to an Integrated Masters program or explore a range of our Postgraduate programs here.
Tutors
Gemma Lawler
Senior Lecturer & Pathway Lead in Songwriting
Ngaire Ruth
Lecturer in Music Business
